Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Nanoparticles are finding increasing use in the marketplace, and can be made out of a wide variety of materials including carbon in the form of nanotubes and Bucky balls, metal oxides, semiconductors, and so on.
Questions have also been asked regarding the potential impacts of nanoparticles on human health, at least in part due to their very small size. For example, if nanoparticles enter the human body through the respiratory tract, it may be difficult for the human body to discharge them. Similarly, concerns have been raised about the potential absorption of nanoparticles through the skin, while larger conventional particles are not likely to fit through pores and channels in the skin. The fine particle size of nanoparticles also makes them challenging to filter or otherwise remove from the environment.
Conventional particle detection technologies are not effective at detecting or measuring the presence of nanoparticles.